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The Sanctuary Downtown / Relentless Love
Hosted by Peter Hiett · EN
http://www.relentless-love.org
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When God Ran
3d agoTap to summarizeNo description available
Transcribe →Truth You Can’t Handle (Which Handles You)
1w agoTap to summarize“You can’t handle the truth.” That’s an iconic line spoken by Jack Nicholson in the movie A Few Good Men. Jesus says something similar in our text for this week: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot handle them now” (John 16:12). It’s a little surprising since He just told them, “All that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you” (John 15:15). It seems that they know, but not as they ought to know. And that does seem applicable to the situation. Jesus and the eleven are walking to the Garden of Gethsemane. Each of these disciples has vowed fidelity to Jesus. And in a few hours, each will flee and “go to his own” (John 16:32) — his own abode, rather than abide with Jesus. In a few hours, men — trying to make themselves God — will take the life of Christ on a tree in a garden. It’s not the first time it’s happened. Making yourself God is making God “not God.” It’s the “original sin” and every sin. To sin is to judge the Judgment of God with your own judgment. They take “the Life” on the tree, and the World goes black, literally. “The day you do it is the day you die,” said God in Eden. And Jesus talked as if we were already dead (John 5:24). That might be a truth that’s rather hard to handle. Brad was my best friend as a young boy. We caught bugs together. We took art classes together. Over the years, we grew apart. In high school, Brad seemed to have lost his faith. I used to witness to Brad about Jesus. He’d smile and walk away. About 30 years ago, he died of AIDS. At his funeral, his sister pulled me aside and said, “Peter it was so weird. Before Brad died, he was delirious, and he used to lie in bed muttering over and over again, 'I can’t be God; I can’t be God; it’s so hard to be God.” Shirley MacLaine once wrote: “I was my own universe. Did that also mean I had created God and I had created life and death? Was that why I was all there was? A chilling wave of loneliness rippled through me...” Yes. I would think so. And yet, due to the implications of quantum mechanics, some physicists speculate that this might be true. It’s a horrifying thought, for it would mean that each one of us is thoroughly alone and utterly insane — trapped in our own logos, our own logic, our own reason, our own truth . . . “Was this what was meant by the statement I Am that I Am?” asks Shirly MacLaine. Is God infinitely lonely? John 16:8-15, Jesus says, “When [The Helper] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of [the] truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth [that’s Jesus], for he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. NOW, read that last line over and over again. Scripture is clear that all that the Father has is all that there is, including all souls. He has all judgment, which has been given to the Son (John 5:22); it’s the ability to make a world with just a word; it’s a thoroughly free will. The Father has a name, “I Am.” He gives it to His son “I Am is Salvation.” It sounds like an identity. Is it given to us? To be God is an attractive idea at first, then utterly terrifying. There’s an old Twilight Zone episode in which a six-year-old has the power to create his own world with just a word. Of course, everyone’s terrified of him and so cannot love him, but they all pretend to love him. All that he actually wants is Love, although he doesn’t yet know Love, so he repeatedly demands Love, and so crucifies Love, and so becomes more and more angry — a little vessel of wrath. He ends up willing everyone away and willing himself into darkness, utterly alone, which is “hell (hades). “It’s not good for the man to be alone,” says God; it’s evil. Yet Jesus already told us (and the Pharisees) in John 10:34, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” He’s quoting Psalm 82, in which “gods” is the Hebrew word, “elohim,” normally translated as “God.” He’s just said, “I and the Father are One.” Is each of us is to be one with the Father as Jesus is one with the Father? The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being “a man that’s made himself God.” But Jesus is God having made Himself man. When a man makes himself God, he does the work of the devil, traps himself in outer darkness, and brings death to everyone he meets. When God makes Himself man, He looks just like Jesus — The Way, The Truth, The Life, The Good in flesh, the perfect image of the invisible God. “You are gods” and “The Spirit of Truth will take what is mine and declare it to you,” says The Truth. That’s a truth that’s rather hard to handle, and perhaps we really can’t handle the Truth until the same Spirit of Truth convicts us concerning sin, righteousness and Judgment. 1. “Concerning sin, because [or “that”] they do not believe [trust] in me (v.9).” I don’t think we have any idea of just how evil this world actually is. And any idea of how often, and how much, each one of us sins. And how horrid it is when we do sin. And that all we do and can do, apart from Jesus, is sin. He just told us, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Sin is a nothing that we think is a something that produces tremendous pain. Sin is a lack of faith in Jesus, which traps us in Me-sus. And righteousness is the faith of Jesus, which annihilates Me-sus and liberates us to be the image and likeness of God... which is Jesus. 2. “Concerning righteousness, because [or “that”] I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer (v.10).” Jesus just told us, “The Father is in me... In that day, you will know that I am... in you...If anyone loves me... we will make our abode in him (John 14:12, 20, 15:23).” We are the Father’s house. We think it can’t be true, because we’ve been convinced that life on this timeline is all that there is. We have no idea of the depths of evil in this world and ourselves, but also no idea of the glory of the righteousness of Christ in us and through us in the world. 1. He is the Truth that we haven’t “handled”; we — each and all — took His Life on a tree. 2. And yet, He rises from the dead in us; He is every right decision in and through us. 3. And this is the Judgement of God; His Choice given to each one of us. Perhaps this needs to be more than knowledge gained in a book, but instead, a life lived in this world and then born into the next. 3. “Concerning judgment, because [or “that”] the ruler of this world is judged.” It is the ruler of this world who whispers, “He can’t save you, and He doesn’t want to save you... So, you better save yourself. Take the fruit of the tree and make yourself in the image of God; make yourself God.” All of the accuser’s power is based on a lie that is annihilated by the revelation of the Truth. Me-sus is the prison. Jesus is the Truth. His superpower is humility. Humility is knowing that you cannot make yourself God, for God has already made Himself you. He is our Helper, made fit for each and every one of us. The lie of the evil one is that you must exalt yourself to get what you want. The Truth is that when you humble yourself, you will be exalted, for all that you really want is Love... and God is Love. Life is a communion of Sacrifice called Love, which is the Judgment of God that is God; it’s one for all and all for one; it’s the 7th sign that is the substance. “All that the Father has is mine. The Spirit of Truth will take what is mine and declare it to you.” — That would include my old friend, Brad. I did his funeral. Being a young evangelical pastor, it made me rather nervous; it wasn’t a “normal” Sunday morning church crowd. But I spoke of the many ways I had encountered the Righteousness of God in Brad — their Honesty, Beauty, Kindness, and Love. After the service, Brad’s old girlfriend said to my wife, “One day, toward the end (when he’d lie in bed moaning, ‘I can’t be God. It’s too hard to be God.’), I asked Brad what he wanted for his funeral. I said, ‘Have you talked to your old friend, Peter?’ And Bradley said, ‘Oh Peter, I talk to him every week.” I hadn’t talked to Brad in years... but maybe he had been talking to Jesus, whom he met in me. And maybe he’ll recognize him when he stands before the throne. Maybe he’ll say, “I know you,” as Jesus replies: “And Bradley, I know you. We used to catch bugs together down by the ditch. We drew pictures together at your house after school. Now, this is our Father’s house. Welcome home. Would you like to come in?” Many years before his funeral, when we were both in Los Angeles — Brad, making art in Hollywood, and me, attending Seminary in Pasadena — Brad called me at church. He said, “Peter, I’m having a party, and you have to come. I’ve got a communist, a physicist, a lesbian, a rabbi, an atheist, and you’re a pastor – it’ll be perfect if you would only come.” I said, “no.” I think I thought it would be a little too much for me to handle. I said “no.” But I expect to one day say “Yes!” for Jesus said, “All that the Father has is mine.” That would include communists, physicists, lesbians, rabbis, atheists, even pastors and Brad. “Therefore, I said,” said Jesus, “The Spirit of Truth will take what is mine and declare it to you.” We can’t handle the Truth, but the Truth is handling us and will bring us all home to Him. He broke the bread and blessed the cup, saying, “Eat of it and drink of it, all of you.” This is the Revelation of sin: Each and all took His Life. And when you see it, it is utterly devastating. This is the Re...
Transcribe →The World Hates You…Surprised?
2w agoTap to summarize“Don’t be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you,” writes John in 1 John 3:13. In our text from the Gospel of John, Jesus just tells his followers, “The world hates you.” This raises some questions: “Why does the world hate me? And why have I found it to be surprising?” I thought of four occasions upon which I was genuinely surprised to be hated. The first was about 51 years ago playing basketball in P. E. in seventh grade. I genuinely loved shooting hoops with my friend David after school. But playing basketball in school was another matter. For some reason, someone passed me the ball, and I didn’t immediately pass it away which was my normal tactic (I had learned this from Matt L. in the second grade — Matt from our last message). For some reason, this day, a lane just opened up — nothing between the basket and me. And so, I seized my opportunity for glory; I dribbled down the court, shot a layup, and it went in; it was beautiful! I turned around, ready to receive adulation and congratulations . . . and all I received was hate, absolute disdain. I thought that the name of the game was shooting baskets, but apparently you have to shoot them for a particular team; I had scored for the wrong team. John 15:16-20: Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit... If the world [kosmos] hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Thirty-two years ago, when my church was the fastest-growing church in my denomination, I wrote this in my journal: “I’m more respected than Jesus was. I’m more honored than He. People speak better of me, and I live in a far nicer house than He. I’m more popular than Jesus was when He hung on that cross for me. And that ought to concern me. Because a servant is not better than his master. And He said, that if the world hated Him, they’d hate me.” “The world will hate you.” I used to think “world” meant drug dealers and pornographers, but those persecuting Jesus were actually his “church,” Israel. And “world” meant more than tax collectors and sinners, or even priests and pharisees. John uses the Greek word “kosmos,” which means cosmos. He already told us, “In Him (the Word) was Life, and the Life was the Light of men... [He] was coming into the cosmos. He was in the cosmos, and the cosmos was made through Him, yet the cosmos did not know him.” The cosmos is all of space and time. In Scripture (see Gen. 2:4), time is like six days of chronological time on a timeline surrounded by an “eternal” seventh day, the unveiled presence of “I Am.” And space is like an explosion of nothingness in the somethingness of “I Am” that is currently being filled with “I Am” as He speaks His Light into the Void as a Word. Space and time are like a womb in Yahweh (I Am that I Am). The cosmos is nothingness being filled with the somethingness of God; it’s the realm of “becoming” encased in “Being.” “In Him we live and move and have our being.” The Cosmos is a temporal thing surrounded by eternity, and yet that eternity already exists in every human soul like a seed. In the message, I shared a great picture of my 10-month-old grandson, James. When he was born, I held him in my arms and he didn’t know that I, or he, existed. Now he recognizes me, and I recognize the eternal in James. In the picture, he’s looking under a park bench for me, delighted to find me, and see himself reflected in my eyes. I pray they speak the Truth: “No matter the choices you make in space and time, you are God’s choice, and all His choices are Good. You are the Choice of God, the Chosen.” James hasn’t done much, but he is much. He is the presence of I Am in a pile of dust named “Adam,” and becoming “the last Adam,” Jesus. “You didn’t choose me; I chose you.” As we preached last time, “I am God’s choice or nothing.” So maybe the point of “election” is not that some are chosen and others are not chosen but that God is the Chooser and each of us are the chosen... or we are nothing — incapable of any actual choice at all. From Scripture, it seems clear to me that we are all chosen to experience the illusion of not being chosen, to then awaken to the reality of being the Eternally Beloved, The Chosen One, in whom we are all chosen — the Eschatos Adam. It’s only in a cosmos like ours, where one moment in space and time can be hidden from another moment of space and time, that we could be tricked into believing a lie and so trap ourselves in the illusion that we are each our own creator. John 15:21: “All these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” His name is literally, “Yahweh (I Am) is Salvation.” “Beingness” is salvation. So, what does He save us from? Non-being. In other words, ALL SALVATION is CREATION. He just told us, “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” Evil is a nothing that we think is a something. So, if we think we have created ourselves, that self is evil and an illusion from which we must be saved. John 15:22: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of [the] sin (So much for the idea of inherited guilt!), but now they have no excuse (no cloak, no fig leaves) for their sin... Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the Word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without cause.” Jesus is the Torah (Law or Way): He is the knowledge of Good and evil. God is the Good, and His apparent absence is the evil. Jesus is the Good in flesh, hanging on a tree in a garden; He is “The Way” and “The Life.” To take the fruit to make yourself God is evil. But to receive the Fruit, for God is making you Himself, is something else entirely. It’s Grace revealed as Faith. It’s His Choice. John 16:1-2: “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away [scandalizo: being scandalized, being offended]. They will kick you out of the synagogues.” And that reminds me of the second time that I was utterly surprised to be hated. In 2005, in a sermon, I asked if we had been trying to capture Jerusalem in the very way that Jesus refused to do so. Then I suggested that we are the New Jerusalem and True Israel. It utterly infuriated a Christian man of Jewish descent. I told him, “I’m not anti-jew. I am a Jew. The King of the Jews is my husband. His Dad is my Dad. His blood is in my body. I’m not taking anything away from Jews; I’ve just been grafted into your family tree.” Then he would really get furious. I thought he might try to kill me. Synagogue means “assembly” or even “team.” He didn’t want me on his team. John 16:2-3: “Indeed the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me” — Yeshua, Jesus, Yahweh is Salvation.” And that reminds me of the third time that I was utterly surprised to be hated... I never expected to be hated by “Christians” for preaching that Jesus wins. Reading Romans 11, I realized that “all Israel” would be saved, but I kept reading and realized that “God consigned all to disobedience (Bad choices) that He may have mercy on all (His Choice).” Jesus means “God is Salvation,” which means “Me is NOT salvation.” I had to realize that when I preached Jesus, I was crucifying “Me-sus.” Of course people hated me: I was insulting their idol, and they assumed that I was evil, because they thought that I was scoring points for the wrong team. They didn’t know that God is the Good who saves us from our own evil, that it’s His Good Choice that saves us from our bad choice, that Salvation is Creation, and we are still being created. They didn’t know that Salvation is always the name of His game, at least until all of space and time is filled with Love, and we are all one team. Imagine that you’re playing in the NBA championships, and Jesus is on your team. Nobody can shoot baskets like Jesus. You’re down by one, five seconds are left in the game, and you pass to Jesus. He plants, and just as He’s about to shoot, He spots someone on the other team that’s sad, and so He passes the ball to them . . . or maybe He turns and makes a half-court shot for them. Would you be offended? Would you yell at Jesus? “What the hell Jesus? You sacrificed the game! Beating our opponents is the name of the game?!” And what if He said, “I’m sorry, I don’t play that game.” Would you still want to be on His team? Or would you judge yourself out of His Vineyard? John 16:4: “I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” A couple of hours after preaching the last sermon, You are God’s Choice or Nothing, I said to my wife, “You know, while I’m preaching about Jesus, looking at Jesus, I feel so good. But within a few minutes of stopping, I feel like I’m dying. What’s wrong with me?” And without skipping a beat she responded, “You hate yourself.” That surprised me.... I think she’s right, but in a weird way. I hate myself, because I love myself, but I can’t save myself. I’m trying to say that I’m just like my grandson James, EXCEPT that I’m trying to be me. I am God’s choice, but I’m trying to make myself the Savior, unaware that the Savior is constantly making Himself me. You know, little children learn and grow in a way that’s very different than older children and adults. James looks at me, sees himself in me and me in himself, and so does whatever I do without even thinking about what he’s doing. When I try to learn and grow, I take knowledge of Jesus and then hate myself for not being Jesus and then try to be Jesus without Jesus. And I hope you recognize that fo...
Transcribe →Face to Face
3w agoTap to summarizeNo description available
Transcribe →Are You Alive!?!
May 24Tap to summarizeNo description available
Transcribe →I Am God’s Choice (or nothing)
May 17Tap to summarizeI have a memory burned in my flesh and haunting my psyche. Every day, around about 1968 or ‘69, Mr. Johnston would gather all of the seven- and eight-year-old boys for PE, assign captains, and then make them pick teams. I was never picked first. Sometimes the captains would publicly argue over who would have to be stuck with me... Never first, but also not last. That was usually Matt, or maybe Duncan. Matt and Duncan always played Batman and Robin at recess, and even then, Duncan always got to be Batman and Matt always had to play Robin — but at least Batman likes Robin. Routinely, someone would yell, “Get Matt and Duncan,” and a crowd of little boys, all trying to be the chosen, would chase Duncan and Matt behind the backstop, knock them down, and start kicking — only to walk away when Batman and Robin had been humiliated and left in the dust whimpering. I remember standing on the side of that crowd, utterly frozen. I wanted to be chosen; I wanted to be one of the guys. And yet I wanted to choose Matt, to go lie in the dust next to Matt. And I began to wonder, “How does God choose?” How does God pick His friends? Do we have to try out for His team? Does He choose us based on our choices... and if so, who made those choices? Choices are made by choosers, so who makes all the choosers? And what is Hell? Behind the backstop in 1968, it already felt like hell. John 15:12-14, Jesus is walking from the Upper Room to a garden named “Gethsemane” and then on to a garden on Mt. Calvary. He’s just told them of the True Vine, Vinedresser, and Branches, when He says, “This is [the commandment of me], that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends IF you do what I command you...” This must be how He picks His team. In our worship service this week, I said. “Let’s pick teams.” I asked those who do what Jesus commands, to raise their hand and then go to the right side of the room at my command. Then I asked those who don’t do what Jesus commands to raise their hand. We ran into a problem, for most people raised the same hand both times. We hope that the Judgment of God would judge between people, but it seems to cut people, all people... cut each one of us in two. John 15:15, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” I hate being a boss, but love being friends. So, I’ll often explain myself to “employees,” because I want them to trust my intentions; I want to be friends. I want them to agree with me because they trust me (That’s called, “faith.”) Jesus doesn’t want robots, slaves, or employees; He wants friends. And did you notice in the passage that Jesus just called them “Friends”? And yet at dinner, He had told just them, “You will all fall away [scandalizo: be scandalized, sin] because of me this night.” And yet again, He will soon tell them (just 13 more verses), “I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away [scandalizo: ‘being scandalized,’ sinning].” They do fall away, yet they all come back, as if His word in them were some sort of homing beacon or imperishable seed. For three years, they had chosen to leave everything and follow Jesus. At times, it seemed like the best choice they had ever made. As the chant of the crowd changed from “Hosanna” to “Crucify, Crucify,” they would each re-evaluate all their choices and choose to abandon their friend. Jesus knows this. He turns and says... John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you...” That must’ve sounded so strange and yet so familiar. God chose Abraham. God Chose Israel. God Chose Judah. And they all had a tremendously difficult time choosing God. God tells the people of Israel to choose but informs them that they cannot, for their hearts have not been circumcised. Joshua tells them to choose to serve but then tells them they are unable. He and his house will choose and serve, but to be part of Joshua’s house (His Bride or children) is not their choice. It’s Joshua’s choice. “Joshua” is the Hebrew form of the name “Jesus.” John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you...” I think that means that He controls the “IF.” “There is no greater Love than to die for your friends.” Jesus dies for “the sins of the whole world.” He must consider all the sinners in this world to actually be His friends. John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you...” He is the Logos, the Logic of God. He is the Light, the Way, The Truth, and the Life. Maybe you can’t choose Life unless the Life has chosen you. Maybe you can’t tell the Truth unless the Truth is telling you; you can’t find the Way unless that Narrow Way has found you. You can’t choose to turn on the Light unless the Light has chosen you and decided to turn you on to Him. Maybe you can’t even think unless you are being thought. Maybe you can’t choose the Good unless the Good is choosing you, and choosing you from the inside out, as you choose the Good — and even as you choose the bad and regret it later on. He controls the “IF.” And yet, He doesn’t want robots, slaves, or employees; He wants friends. How does He do that? Perhaps He just told us, His friends... John 15:1-5 (what we preached last time), “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he lifts up, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes [kathairo], that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean [katharos: pruned] because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. [Maybe each one of us is a bunch of branches, just as each person is a bunch of choices.] The one abiding in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” If you define “free will” as a choice that you make apart from God, which determines the choices of God, then your “free will” is nothing. It’s a nothing that you think is a something, which is worse than a mere nothing; it’s an illusion that the devil inhabits. John 15:10-12, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” I woke up at 4 a.m. last Wednesday morning, wrestling with this Word from God: “Abide in the vine.” Then suddenly, the obvious hit me: Branches don’t choose to abide in the vine, prune themselves, or grow fruit. I realized, “I Am God’s choice or I am nothing.” And then, it felt like I began to abide — I was at home, at home in “me.” And when branches abide in the vine . . . FRUIT just happens. It is what Jesus commands: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, the Good, etc. Jesus will soon be hanging on a tree in the middle of a garden on the Holy Mountain. There’s a reason that we all chose evil, and God chose the Good: mercy on all. God wants all the children of Adam to see: His decision is Grace; He is Grace; He chose you, long before you could even begin to choose Him. When I believe the snake and so take the fruit in order to create myself in the image of God, I take the Life, crucify Christ, choose death, and produce “the works of the flesh.” That’s My choice: Self-righteousness, fake fruit, and sour grapes. And I become a tree of death. But when I believe the Truth and so surrender to Christ, it is Christ in me giving His life to me and rising from the dead within me as every good choice born of me: New Wine, the Fruit of His Spirit in me, His Life through me — our eternal life. The Tree of Life, the True Vine, now grows in me. I am a temple, and the Holy of Holies in me is the inner man in me, Christ in me, the True Vine in me. The Outer Man must be dead branches: the form of life but drained of life, like a corpse — or nothing. My consciousness can abide in either place: God’s something or the nothing I pretend is something 1.) I can’t grow fruit by trying, for then I’m not abiding in the vine, and so all the fruit I grow is fake.2.) I can’t prune my own vine; I can’t judge my own choices, for that would just be more of my own bad choices and create more dead branches. 3.) A branch can’t just decide to abide in a vine unless the vine has already decided to abide in the branch, in which case the branch actually becomes the vine. 1.) The Eleven had tried to Love as Jesus loved for three years and would utterly fail this night. 2.) In a few hours, they would each re-evaluate all their choices; they would attempt to prune their own vine. 3.) Jesus would turn and say, “You didn’t choose me; I chose you.” That Word must’ve sat in them like a seed, root, or stump. It was our Lord’s Choice in them. At the cross, the Vinedresser pruned them down to Jesus (“God is Salvation”). They fell away, and yet they came back, for they just wanted to be with Him; they wanted to abide with Him even when He seemed to be good for nothing... just good. And in case you didn’t know, those 11 guys bore fruit. When I see that I didn’t choose Jesus, but Jesus chose me, I trust the vine in me, and He trusts us both to the Vinedresser. And then I abide, and FRUIT (Good Choices) just happen. I don’t have to prune the branches, and I don’t have to fake the fruit. I just need to know: “I Am God’s Choice or Nothing.” Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” When I see it, my ego disappears, the vinedresser prunes my branches (I can let stuff go; it’s nothing), and it changes all my nothings into His something. And then, I’m free to be “me.” But in 1968 behind the backstop, I was frozen. I wanted to be part of that crowd, tha...
Transcribe →Authenticity in Worship
May 10Tap to summarizeNo description available
Transcribe →Prayer That Doesn’t Work
May 3Tap to summarizeIn John 5:1-11, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser... Abide in me... you are the branches. Whoever abides in me... he it is that bears much fruit.... If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” As I prepared to preach on these verses, I found myself getting angry. I think I must assume that Jesus is saying, “Have your ‘Quiet Times,’ do your devotions, say your prayers and everything will go your way.” Nineteen years ago, I had never been more faithful in prayer, diligent in doing good deeds, and devoted to the practice of communion. And in the span of a few weeks, everything (or it felt like everything... my accomplishments) was stripped away. Perhaps you’ve been there? Whenever I get mad at God, everything changes when I step into Jesus. Did Jesus say His prayers? Did Jesus do good deeds and celebrate communion? Actually... He had just instituted communion and washed the disciples’ feet and was about to pray the godliest of prayers when He said these words. No one has ever been more devoted than Jesus on this day, and yet on this day He will appear to be utterly fruitless, debased, and cursed. This is the beginning of “Good Friday.” According to the definitions of this world, no man was ever, or could be, more cursed and unfruitful than this naked man nailed to this tree in a garden on the Holy Mountain. And yet, according to God, no man was ever, or could be, more fruitful or a greater blessing. Maybe we’re confused about what fruit is and where and how it grows... 1) I think we often assume that Jesus suffered and died so that we don’t have to — which makes it rather hard to abide in the vine during certain seasons of the year. 2) And we assume that some branches go to heaven, and some are endlessly burned in Hell — which makes it kind of hard to be at home in the Vine and with the Vinedresser. 3) And we assume that the Vinedresser chooses to prune particular branches based upon the choices of those branches, our choices — which makes us all judgmental, competitive, and angry... which is the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit. That’s called “the work of the flesh.” In John 14:30-31, just before John 15, Jesus says, “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim in me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.” It reminds me of Job. Satan asked God, “Does Job respect you for no reason?” That is, “He only says ‘Yes’ to you for what you give him, not because of who you are.” Job is stripped of all and left sitting on a pile of dust and ashes. Job gets no explanation, and “NO” seems to be the only answer to his prayers. God appears in the end and asks, “Can you conquer Leviathan (Satan in the form of a dragon)?” God says, “Who has first given to me that I should repay him? ...Leviathan is king over all the sons of pride.” Job sees God, worships God, and confesses, “I uttered what I do not understand... but now my eyes see you.” Job had asked for knowledge of God, and God gave no answer but himself, and Job became even more fruitful; he had faith while sitting on a pile of dust and ashes — that’s fruit. Job was God’s champion, conquered the dragon, and became even more fruitful. And, of course, he is a picture of the one speaking in John 15. He just said, “Rise, let us go from here.” They’re on their way to a garden. In the Garden of Gethsemani (“olive press”), in great distress, Jesus prays, “Abba, Father... remove this cup from me.” And apparently the answer is “No.” Jesus is the Word and Will of God the Father! So... is Jesus asking, “in Jesus’ name”? Apparently not. I think He’s asking in my name and your name and hearing “NO” on our behalf. He did say, “Abide in me, and I in you.” He then prays, “Yet not what I will but what you will.” I find that to be incredibly hard to pray (to will what I don’t will), but perhaps I can pray it in Jesus’ name. My grandson, James, is beginning to learn the word, “No.” It kills me to say “No” to James. I love saying “YES!” but I know that unless a child learns “No,” they will always be alone and incapable of saying “Yes” to Love and Life and Joy. I think there’s a part of me in James, so I don’t want him to hear “No,” for I know how much that hurts. Yet, I long for the day that James comes home and I can say, “James, all that’s mine is yours. Lick the light sockets if you want to! Drink from the toilet if you want to! Eat the dirt in the garden if you want to! No more rules; everything is ‘YES!’” Paul wrote, “In the Son of God it is always ‘yes.’ All the promises of God find their ‘Yes’ in Him.” The role of a good dad or granddad is to not only impose your will from the outside, like a law or prison, but to grow your will from the inside until your will becomes your child’s will — a good free will. From the garden of Gethsemani, Jesus is taken to the Garden on the Holy Mountain, where he is hung on a tree and from which He prays, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do,” and “Why have you forsaken me?” He says, “I thirst,” quoting David in Psalm 39, and as with David, they give Him sour wine to drink. Like Job, David heard “NO.” And in the place he heard “NO,” God answered with Himself. Jesus is literally born of David’s sin and grief. One Son of David dies. David knows Bathsheba in a new way, and another Son of David is born. Jesus is the Son of David that dies and is born (actually is resurrected) and builds the temple of living stones. In the garden on the tree, Jesus hears “NO” on behalf of all humanity (Adam). He drinks the sour wine and delivers up His Spirit. That’s the Holy Spirit that descends into us and rises within us, crying “Abba” from the garden sanctuary of the soul. “Rise let us go from here (to the Garden: John 18:1, 26, 19:24). I am the true vine.” This is the seventh and last “I Am statement” in the Gospel of John and the seventh sign that is the substance. In the Hebrew mind, a vine was a type of tree (ets). “In the middle of the garden there was the ‘ets’ of Life and the ‘ets’ of the knowledge of Good and evil.” The Dragon tempts each of us to justify ourselves with the knowledge of Good and evil and so trap ourselves in an illusion that is our own arrogant, lonely, and competitive ego. And at that, God says “NO” and drives humanity from the garden, in order to save us from ourselves in the hope that we would come back to the garden, eat from the tree in a new way, and God our Father could finally say nothing but “YES! YES! YES!” “I am the true vine,” said Jesus. It does imply the existence of a not-so-true vine. The 12 disciples knew that Israel was God’s Vine and Vineyard. Isaiah 5:1-4, “My beloved had a vineyard... and he looked for grapes and it yielded, ‘baushiym,’ sour grapes.... ‘What more was there to do for my Vineyard,’ asks Yahweh?” I watched several videos on “Vine dressing.” The goal of the “vinedresser” is to dress the Vine in delicious fruit from the inside out. Scripture claims that we will each be dressed in the Righteousness (the right decisions) of Christ from the inside out. I learned that absent pruning, a vine will send most of its energy into growth and produce sour grapes that make sour wine, but when pruned — the same vine will produce abundant and delicious fruit. Perhaps we all eat from the tree of knowledge and become a tree of death, and we will all be pruned, right down to the root and become a tree of life. I learned that the best wine comes from old vines pruned numerous times (kind of like people). “What more was I to do?” asks Yahweh. In the next chapter, Isaiah is told to preach Israel down to a stump that is a root and the Holy Seed. Isaiah continues in Chapter 27: “Israel will blossom... and fill the whole world with fruit... therefore the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit (harvest) of the removal of his sins.” John 15:1, “I am the true vine, and my father is the vinedresser (“georgos,” from which we derive the name “George.”) It makes sense of the legend of St. George and the dragon. Our Father cuts away everything dead and diseased in which the dragon abides. In the words of CS Lewis, Jesus was “un-dragoned” on the cross. In the words of Paul, He was circumcised on the cross. I’m saying that Jesus was pruned on the tree in the garden on the Holy Mountain. Pruned of what? Our sin... in His flesh. The Devil has nothing in Him, but on the cross, He was wearing our sin; He’s the Scapegoat that becomes the Sin Offering. He’s also the Burnt Offering (Olah). Jesus is the goat and the sheep; Jesus is the sin offering and the burnt offering. Jesus is repentance in you, and He is righteousness in you and dressing you from the inside out. We die with Him and rise with him. To abide in Him is to be at home in Him and look at the Father through His eyes. The Self that’s hearing God and looking Him in the eye is eternal. The self that we judge in the past and try to create in the future is an illusion — the product of the dragon’s lie, the body of sin. We must all be pruned; we must all hear “NO” to our arrogance, in order that we would say “YES” to our Father in Freedom. Our Father knows that this process — growing up — hurts. So, He comes to us in Jesus and says, “Get into me; we’ll do this together. Abide in me and my love for our Father.” It’s called Faith. When my daughter, James’ mom, was a little girl, she cracked her head on the fireplace, and I took her to the emergency room for stitches. To keep her still, they tied her down. It was Hell. Every scream seemed to say “Daddy, why have you forsaken me?” A few months later, she did the same thing, and I drove her to the same hospital once again. But this time I asked permission, and the doctor agreed to give it a try. I said, “Honey, I know it’s scary, but if you look into my eyes and bel...
Transcribe →Greater Works
Apr 26Tap to summarizeIn John 14:12, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” Greater works — what does that mean? Jesus walked on water, and Peter did too... at least for a few steps. “Greater works than these will you do.” It’s the bane of every pastor. People say, “Pray for my healing, pastor; Jesus said, ‘Greater works will you do.’” The disciples healed everyone... sometimes, and also no one, sometimes. They healed... sometimes. And they cast out demons. I’ve done that, in Jesus’ name; it really freaked me out the first time! Jesus said to the 70, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” After his chapter on “Gifts of the Spirit,” Paul wrote about “the still more excellent way.” So... Maybe the Greater Works are not “signs and wonders,” but greater churches built by greater pastors. At one time, I was esteemed by many as a great pastor because my church grew greatly from a few people to a few thousand people. At times, I felt like I was walking on water . . . but not very far, AND only because I was running as fast as I possibly could. We watched a video of young men trying to walk on water by running really, really, fast... It seemed to be working (15 million views), but the video — even a few steps — was a hoax. John 14:13, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” Jesus said this to The Eleven at the last supper. All 11 died martyr’s deaths, except John who was exiled to a prison colony. Don’t you think they would’ve prayed, “God, please — put out the flames; please give my executioner the flu; please don’t let Jesus die on a cross... in Jesus’ name”? In two chapters and in this same monologue, John 16:24, Jesus says, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask that your joy may be full.” Isn’t that incredible? They had cast out demons and healed the sick BUT had never asked anything in Jesus’ name. WOW! In Jesus’ name, would you pray to get rich when He said, “Blessed are the poor”? Would you pray to crush your enemies when He commanded you to “Love your enemies”? Would you pray for the best seat at the banquet when Jesus commanded you to always take the worst (Luke 14:10)? I bet I know one prayer that none of the disciples had ever prayed at any dinner party, and so, of course, could not have prayed in Jesus’ name. I bet that none of them had ever prayed, “Father let me be the one to wash the feet, everyone’s feet, including Judas.” It’s important to be aware of context and the danger of refrigerator magnets that can only contain a few words. When Jesus said these things — “Greater works than these, etc.” — He had just taken the form of a slave, washed everyone’s feet, and said, “Now is the Son of man glorified... A new commandment I give you, ‘love one another as I have loved you.’” It’s new but old, because it’s eternal. And it’s old but new, because Jesus just showed them what it meant.” John has written extensively about “The Bread of Life,” and the entire Revelation is about the Blood which is Wine. But in his Gospel, instead of retelling the words of institution, John recounts how Jesus washed everyone’s feet — as if to say, “This is what communion with Him looks like in your everyday life.” If you went to a party and started washing everyone’s feet, people would be very annoyed and rightly assume that you were a sanctimonious religious nut, trying to justify yourself by shaming everyone else. But what if you went to that party, and silently prayed, “Our Father, let me see Judas with your eyes; let me see those who are disappointed in me with your compassion. Let me forget myself and get lost in them. Let me sit in the worst seat, that they would sit in a better seat. Father, let me see my world and the people you have made with your eyes, the eyes of Christ, and so tell them what they long to hear: ‘I love you!’ In the name of Jesus, Amen.” The name Jesus (Yahweh + yasha), Yeshua, literally means, “God is Salvation.” What could “praying in the name of ‘God is Salvation’” mean except praying for the Salvation of all of the Father’s children — the people that He has made? And what prayer would the Savior be happier to answer than that one? And how could He better answer it than by giving you His own Spirit that would look through your eyes out upon a Judas with infinite compassion, wash His feet, and even call him “friend,” while being betrayed in a garden? What if the greatest work so far was washing feet, and “the work, greater than these” was not only washing feet, but clipping toenails or some such thing? What if greatness went in that direction? You know, as I thought about that this week, I was surprised by this amazing sense of relief and peace. It’s incredibly stressful, trying to exalt yourself at every dinner party, always trying to be the best and the first. It’s incredibly hard to always defend yourself, justify yourself — that is, always make yourself right. It all feels so wrong; it feels like hell. But maybe I could actually wash someone’s feet... if only for a moment. And for that moment, everything would be perfect, and my soul would rest. AND YET, that moment would be an absolute miracle. I couldn’t get there by trying, for the harder I try to love, the more I try to justify myself with works of love, and the less I do love. On that day, many will say to Jesus, “‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And He will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.’” (If He does not know them, He didn’t make them, and they must be an illusion of their own making.) He will say to others, “’I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me...’” or maybe, “I was in the least of these, like Judas, and you washed my feet.” They’ll say, “I don’t remember that.” And He’ll say, “That’s because you weren’t trying to be that; you just were that; LOVE has become your nature. I Am Love.” Love holds the Universe in His hand. He holds you in His hand. And Jesus is His hand. And so, what separates us from Him? How about the illusion that Love is an idea in our head and a great work that we can do, when Love is the One that does everything — including us? Perhaps the greater work is not only washing feet, but clipping the toenails of people who despise you, while looking up into their face with the eyes of Christ — not because you have to, but because you want to? John 14:9-11 (Just before 12-13), Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and you still don’t know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (It was Yahweh that just washed your feet, Philip)... “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father abiding in me does his works.” HIS WORKS! If I go to a party, thinking that I have to save everyone, I won’t be able to love anyone, and I sure as hell won’t wash anyone’s feet. But Jesus knew something that I’m just barely beginning to know, and that is: “Yahweh, (Our Father) is Salvation.” On His own, “The Son can do nothing (John 5:19!),” but at home in the Father, with the Father at home in Him, He was literally Yahweh incarnate, saving “the world.” But it wasn’t “His work” to do; it was Love at work in Him, through Him, and as Him. It’s such a relief to know that I’m not asked to save everyone at the party. And yet, I can wash their feet, and The Love in that moment will save them. And one day, The Love will say to me, “Look at the fish that you caught, Peter.” John 14:12, “Greater [megas] works than these...” “Megas” in Greek often refers to quantity rather than quality. So, the same Coke that’s in a Mega Cup is the same Coke that’s in a Mini Cup, like the Faith in a Mustard Seed is the Same Faith that becomes a kingdom, and the same Love in giving a drink to a child is the same Love that will fill all things with Himself. John 14:15-23, “If you love me” [“If” you do, it is a miracle, for Love is the Uncaused Cause] — “If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper [parakletos — It means “One Called Alongside.” It’s a Helper made fit for us. We, each and all are made from the wounded side of the Last Adam] ...even the Spirit of The Truth... You know Him, for he abides with you and will be [or “is”] in you... In that [the] day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments [like, “wash each other’s feet”] and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to [“in” or “by”] him... and we will come to him and make our abode with him.” John Powell taught the course Theology of Faith at Loyola University. One year, Tommy was the resident atheist in his class. “Do you think I’ll ever find God?” asked Tommy with a sneer as he handed in his final exam. “No,” replied Professor Powell... “but I’m certain that He’ll find you.” John Powell was relieved when Tommy graduated but grieved when he got the news: Tommy was diagnosed with terminal cancer. One day, he showed up in Professor Powell’s office. His body had been wasted away, but his eyes were bright. He said, “I got serious about looking for God and nothing happened. So, I decided that I didn’t care about God or some sort of afterlife... But I remembered something you said in your class: ‘The essential sadness is to go through life without loving.’ I figured that it would be equally sad to leave this world without telling those you love that you have loved them. So, I began with the hardest — my dad... Here I was in the shadow of death, and I was just beginning to open up... Then one day I turned around and G...
Transcribe →Good Grief
Apr 19Tap to summarizeNo description available
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